Disneyland or Bust: A Mother-Daughter Coastal Road Trip

RGirl

Change Is Good
Joined
Jan 7, 2010
Hello DIS Friends! Welcome to my latest trip report! First, a brief introduction for the new readers I hope will join in here: My name is Roni - In real life, I’m an attorney. I’m pretty much Elle Woods.

Wait, more *this* version, I’d say.

On weekends and evenings, I morph into an obsessed Disney Trip Planner. I have one child, 7-year-old Willow, and she is, if possible, an even bigger Disney fan than I am. Here we are (back row, right) on one of Willow’s favorite rides in January at DLR.

Willow and I treasure our Disney trips above almost anything else that we do because they have become a way for the two of us to escape the routine and stress of day-to-day life, which at times gets pretty intense as it is just the two of us trying to keep everything on track. On a Disney vacation, we are able to leave all that behind and just have fun together. I am willing to move mountains to make these trips happen for that reason!

This trip was a little different because it involved more than Disney. :scared1: That’s right, we took a two-week road trip from our home in Eastern Washington State, down the coast of Oregon and California, stopping to see the sights along the way, ending with a 6-night stay at Disneyland Resort.

I plan to share our entire trip here, because the non-Disney part of this trip was equally as fun and meaningful for us, and because I hope that there will be at least a few people who will have an interest in reading about some of the other things we did or who may be contemplating a family road trip like this themselves! And now…..

A CHALLENGE!

Now this is a trip report all about Disney and all about road tripping as a family. So I thought I would try something a little different here and shake things up a bit. Each chapter title will feature a (hopefully spot-on, appropriate, relevant) quotation from either a Disney movie or a family road trip movie (not necessarily Disney). The first person to identify the movie from which the chapter-title quotation hails will get a point; two points if the character who said the line is also identified. (If the first person only identifies the movie, the first person to identify the character will also get one point.)

The person with the most points at the end of this trip report will get, well, a lot of points at the very least and, at the most, a shout-out photo of some sort in the upcoming 2015 trip report that will follow the Two DIS Princesses trip scheduled for Willow and Shannon’s (shan23877) daughter Maddie next year! :woohoo:

No fair using Professor Google to figure out the answers - where’s the fun in that?????


So fasten your seat belts and get ready for a ride through Oregon, California and Disneyland! And awaaaaaaaay we go!!!!!

Up Next: Day 1
 
Reserved for chapter links. :coffee:

1. Day 1

2. Day 2A

3. Day 2A (cont.)

4. Day 2B

5. Day 2B (cont.)

6. Day 3A

7. Day 3A (cont.)

8. Day 3A (cont. again)

9. Day 3B

10. Day 3B (cont.)

11. Day 3C

12. Day 3C (cont.)

13. Day 3D

14. Day 4A

15. Day 4A (cont.)

16. Day 4B

17. Day 4B (cont.)

18. Day 4C

19. Day 4C (cont.)

20. Day 4D

21. Day 5

22. Day 6

23. Day 7A

24. Day 7A (cont.)

25. Day 7B

26. Current Day (Oct/Nov) Update

27. Current Day (Oct/Nov) Update Cont.

28. Day 8A

29. Day 8A (cont.)

30. Day 8B

31. Day 8B (cont.)

32. Day 9A

33. Day 9A (cont.)

34. Day 9B

35. Day 9B (cont.)

36. Day 10A

37. Day 10A (cont.)

38. Day 10B

39. Day 10B (cont.)

40. Day 10B (cont. again)

41. Day 10C

42. Day 10C (cont.)

43. Day 10D

44. Day 10D (cont.)

45. Day 10E

46. Day 10E (cont.)

47. Day 10F

48. Day 10G

49. Day 10H

50. Day 10H (cont.)

51. Day 10I

52. Day 10I (cont.)

53. Day 11A

54. Day 11A (cont.)

55. Day 11A (cont. again)

56. Day 11B

57. Day 11B (cont.)

58. Day 11C

59. Day 11C (cont.)

60. Day 11D

61. Day 11D (cont.)

62. Day 11E

63. Day 11F

64. Day 11F (cont.)

65. Day 11G

66. Day 11H

67. Day 11H (cont.)

68. Day 11H (cont. again)

69. Day 12A

70. Day 12A (cont.)

71. Day 12B

72. Day 12B (cont.)

73. Day 12C

74. Day 12C (cont.)

75. Day 12D

76. Day 12E

77. Day 12F

78. Day 12G

79. Day 12G (cont.)

80. Day 12H

81. Day 13A

82. Day 13B

83. Day 13C

84. Day 13D

85. Day 13D (cont.)

86. Day 13E

87. Day 13F

88. Day 13G

89. Day 14A

90. Day 14B

91. Day 14B (cont.)

92. Day 14C

93. Day 14D

94. Day 14E

95. Day 14F

96. Day 14F (cont.)

97. Day 14G

98. Day 14G (cont.)

99. Day 15

100. Day 16
 
Last edited:
Hello Friend! I do hope that you'll teach me the Bend and Snap when we finally meet up!

And you can smash mountains too. You are beyond fabulous.

I can't wait to hear about the whole trip! And if I win the game you have to buy me a can of spray cheese. I'm assuming I'll already have some shout outs.;)

SO EXCITED TO HEAR ABOUT THIS TRIP!!!
 
I read your trip report from January, although I never commented! Looking forward to seeing where you two stopped along the way to the DLR! popcorn:: Road trips are so much fun. :)
 


I'm in. I love the Elle Woods' pics. That is one of my nicknames. I am actually L. Wood (singular) and also a lawyer. I would opt for pic 2 as a better depiction as well, mostly because of the facial expression. :rotfl:
 


I'm a serial lurker on here, but I am hooked already! Looking forward to following your adventure. I have always wanted to do a long road trip down the coast from Portland.

-Lane
 
Here Roni and so looking forward to riding along on your journey.

Oooh a contest with a shout out prize in what will I'm sure be an EPIC trip report? I'm intrigued... :scratchin
 
I'm here! You can start now..... ;) this sounds like an awesome TR! I'm excited to see all the things you did on your road trip!
 
Your use of gifs kills me!! :lmao:

I'm so glad you're including the road trip portion! One of my best friends from high school lives in Oregon now and he really wants me to visit, but I'm a broke college kid so flying to the opposite coast isn't really an option right now. So I'll be excited to see West Coast pictures :thumbsup2

I LOVE CONTESTS. Count me in!!!
 
I'm joining in. I will try to keep on top of this although it will be hard with my own TR still going and a PTR and we leave in 23 days for Disney. If I don't post often, please know that I am reading along.
 
Hi! Came over from the joint PTR. We always do road trips and we'll be visiting the West Coast park in January, so I'm looking forward to reading about your trip. :thumbsup2
 
Joining in! I've loved reading your other trip reports. You offer great advice. Fellow attorney, Disney fanatic and mother of princesses (DD12 and DD1), so I find myself relating to just about everything you write.
 
Hello Friend! I do hope that you'll teach me the Bend and Snap when we finally meet up!
Oh, you know it! :thumbsup2

And you can smash mountains too. You are beyond fabulous.
Yeah, there's not much I can't do. :rolleyes1 :rotfl2:

I can't wait to hear about the whole trip! And if I win the game you have to buy me a can of spray cheese. I'm assuming I'll already have some shout outs.;)
:laughing: Deal!!!

SO EXCITED TO HEAR ABOUT THIS TRIP!!!
SO EXCITED TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT!!! ;)

I read your trip report from January, although I never commented! Looking forward to seeing where you two stopped along the way to the DLR! popcorn:: Road trips are so much fun. :)
Welcome!!! I'm so glad that you have been reading the January report as well - thanks for letting me know! I should have that one all wrapped up pretty soon. :thumbsup2

Thanks for deciding to join in this time - I hope you will continue to read and comment as it goes. It makes it so much more fun to write! :goodvibes


I'm in. I love the Elle Woods' pics. That is one of my nicknames. I am actually L. Wood (singular) and also a lawyer. I would opt for pic 2 as a better depiction as well, mostly because of the facial expression. :rotfl:
Hey there! Thanks for making your way over here as well. I'm so happy to have you on board - you know, every trip report could use more lawyers, right?! :rolleyes1 :laughing:

Joining in, can't wait to hear about you new adventure!:goodvibes
Hi Megan! Thanks for joining in over here as well - I'm so glad to see you. I hope you will enjoy the journey with us!

Marking my place to go back and read!
Hi Jill! Thanks for joining in again! :goodvibes
 
I'm a serial lurker on here, but I am hooked already! Looking forward to following your adventure. I have always wanted to do a long road trip down the coast from Portland.
Welcome Lane!!! Thank you SO MUCH for coming out of lurkdom. I hope that you will read along and continue to comment from time to time - it's so nice to know that people are reading. :laughing:

Here Roni and so looking forward to riding along on your journey.
Hi Rob! Thanks so much for coming on over to the DLR board! I'm so glad to have you joining in with us. :goodvibes

Oooh a contest with a shout out prize in what will I'm sure be an EPIC trip report? I'm intrigued... :scratchin
Who can pass up such a prize, right????? :laughing:

I'm here! You can start now..... ;) this sounds like an awesome TR! I'm excited to see all the things you did on your road trip!
:rotfl2: It's true! I couldn't start without you, Lori! Thanks for tuning in once again! :goodvibes

Your use of gifs kills me!! :lmao:
:laughing: Thanks! I couldn't stomach posting a no-picture update! :scared1:

I'm so glad you're including the road trip portion! One of my best friends from high school lives in Oregon now and he really wants me to visit, but I'm a broke college kid so flying to the opposite coast isn't really an option right now. So I'll be excited to see West Coast pictures :thumbsup2
Maybe you will be intrigued enough to make the trip at some point. ;) Seriously, I hope you get to - the Pacific Northwest is really an amazing place.

I LOVE CONTESTS. Count me in!!!
Yay!!!! I was hoping at least a few people would want to play. :woohoo:
 
I'm joining in. I will try to keep on top of this although it will be hard with my own TR still going and a PTR and we leave in 23 days for Disney. If I don't post often, please know that I am reading along.
Hey there! Thanks so much for coming on over! I totally understand being overwhelmed trying to keep up on the DIS - no worries! And I plan to come along on your next TR as well - I feel like I am way too late to try to catch up on the PTR since you are leaving in less than a month. :laughing:

Hi! Came over from the joint PTR. We always do road trips and we'll be visiting the West Coast park in January, so I'm looking forward to reading about your trip. :thumbsup2
Thanks so much for joining in, Andy! :goodvibes

I haven't done a real road trip (i.e., more than one day) in a looooong time and had never done with Willow. Turns out that we will definitely be doing more - they are a lot of fun, aren't they??

DLR in January, huh? Have you done that before? We have visited twice in January, and it is AMAZING. I am seriously considering going again in January 2015 for Willow's eighth birthday. :goodvibes


Joining in, love your trip reports!
Thanks so much! I'm so glad that you are joining in again! I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride this time. :goodvibes

Joining in! I've loved reading your other trip reports. You offer great advice. Fellow attorney, Disney fanatic and mother of princesses (DD12 and DD1), so I find myself relating to just about everything you write.
Wow - thanks! I'm so glad that you have enjoyed my TRs. And I'm even more glad that you decided to post! I hope you will continue to read along and comment - it's so nice to know that people are reading and, hopefully, enjoying!

Wow - we DO have a lot in common! :laughing: Who knew there were so many DIS lawyers???? :laughing:
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top